SINGAPORE, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's manufacturing output fell 0.1 percent year-on-year in February, reversing from January's 12.9 percent growth, the Singapore Economic Development Board said on Thursday.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, output declined 7.2 percent month-on-month.
Excluding electronics, which was the only cluster to expand with output up 13.7 percent from a year earlier, all major industry clusters posted declines. The board attributed the weakness largely to plant shutdowns during the Chinese New Year period.
Biomedical manufacturing led the drop, contracting 27.3 percent. Within the cluster, pharmaceuticals output fell due to a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients being produced, while medical technology output declined amid softer demand for medical devices. ■
